The Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Limited (ASX: CUV) share price is tumbling in early morning trade. This comes despite releasing an update to the market. At the time of writing, the biopharmaceutical company's shares are swapping hands for $27.99, down 2.3%.
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What did Clinuvel announce?
The Clinuvel share price is being weighed down by investors despite the company's positive announcement.
According to this morning's release, Clinuvel advised that it has now expanded its DNA repair program. The clinical trials will now evaluate afamelanotide in skin cells which have been damaged by ultraviolet (UV) and sun exposure. Patients suffering from rare diseases such as XP-V and XP-C will be included in the study.
Following an agreement by clinical and academic experts, Clinuvel will seek to evaluate the safety and efficacy of afamelanotide.
The company explained how UV radiation damages skin cells, causing defects of the DNA helix. It noted that if left unrepaired, chemical changes to DNA could replicate, thus leading to irreversible damage (photoaging). Continued exposure could also progress to skin cancer, including melanoma.
XP patients in particular have genetic defects that contain impaired DNA repair processes. Thus, leading to an extreme risk of skin cancer. This is unlike most individuals who are able to protect themselves for UV damage and repair cellular DNA.
Afamelanotide is an active ingredient in SCENESSE. Moreover, it improves the function of skin cells that have been damaged. Clinuvel hopes that conducting trials with afamelanotide will produce the first positive results sometime this year.
Management commentary
Clinuvel chief scientific officer Dr. Dennis Wright commented:
XP patients are at extreme risk of skin cancer – up to 10,000 times that of the general population – due to their inability to repair damage caused by UV and sunlight, known as photodamage.
Afamelanotide has been shown to protect skin from UV and light, and repair photodamage. We are now working to confirm this concept in clinical trials with both XP patients and healthy volunteers.
About the Clinuvel share price
The Clinuvel share price has gained over 60% since this time last year. Currently, the share price is up 25% year-to-date. It's worth noting that the company's shares reached a 52-week high of $28.80 earlier this month.
Based on valuation grounds, Clinuvel commands a market capitalisation of around $1.38 billion, with 49.4 million shares on issue.
